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作者：Aker, Jenny C.
作者单位：Tufts University; Tufts University
摘要：Price dispersion across markets is common in developing countries. Using novel market and trader-level data, this paper provides estimates of the impact of mobile phones on price dispersion across grain markets in Niger The introduction of mobile phone service between 2001 and 2006 explains a 10 to 16 percent reduction in grain price dispersion. The effect is stronger for market pairs with higher transport costs. (JEL O13, O33, Q11, Q13)
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作者：Bosch, Mariano; Manacorda, Marco
作者单位：Universitat d'Alacant; University of London; Queen Mary University London; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
摘要：This paper analyzes the contribution of the minimum wage to the well documented rise in earnings inequality in Mexico between the late 1980s and the early 2000s. We find that a substantial part of the growth in inequality, and essentially all of the growth in inequality in the bottom end of the distribution, is due to the steep decline in the real value of the minimum wage.
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作者：Egger, Peter; Koethenbuerger, Marko
作者单位：Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; University of Copenhagen
摘要：This paper presents empirical evidence of a positive effect of council size on government spending using a dataset of 2,056 municipalities in the German state of Bavaria over a period of 21 years. We apply a regression discontinuity design to avoid an endogeneity bias. In particular, we exploit discontinuities in the legal rule that relate population size of a municipality in order to council size to identify a causal relationship between council size and public spending, and find a robust pos...
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作者：Gine, Xavier; Karlan, Dean; Zinman, Jonathan
作者单位：The World Bank; Yale University; Dartmouth College
摘要：We designed and tested a voluntary commitment product to help smokers quit smoking. The product (CARES) offered smokers a savings account in which they deposit funds for six months, after which they take a urine test for nicotine and cotinine. If they pass, their money is returned; otherwise, their money is forfeited to charity. Of smokers offered CARES, 11 percent took up, and smokers randomly offered CARES were 3 percentage points more likely to pass the 6-month test than the control group. ...
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作者：Field, Erica; Robles, Omar; Torero, Maximo
作者单位：Harvard University; CGIAR; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
摘要：Cognitive damage from iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) has important implications for economic growth through its effect on human capital. To gauge the magnitude of this influence, we evaluate the impact on schooling of reductions in IDD from intensive iodine supplementation in Tanzania. Our findings suggest a large effect of in utero iodine on cognition and human capital: treated children attain an estimated 0.35-0.56 years of additional schooling relative to siblings and older and younger p...
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作者：Olken, Benjamin A.
作者单位：Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要：This paper investigates the impact of television and radio on social capital in Indonesia. I use two sources of variation in signal reception one based on Indonesia's mountainous terrain, and a second based on the differential introduction of private television throughout Indonesia. I find that increased signal reception, which leads to more time watching television and listening to the radio, is associated with less participation in social organizations and with lower self-reported trust. Imp...
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作者：Angrist, Joshua; Lang, Daniel; Oreopoulos, Philip
作者单位：Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of Toronto; University Health Network Toronto; University of British Columbia; University of Toronto
摘要：This paper reports on an experimental evaluation of strategies designed to improve academic performance among college freshmen. One treatment group was offered academic support services. Another was offered financial incentives for good grades. A third group combined both interventions. Service use was highest for women and for subjects in the combined group. The combined treatment also raised the grades and improved the academic standing of women. These differentials persisted through the end...
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作者：Abrevaya, Jason
作者单位：University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
摘要：We offer evidence of gender selection within the United States. Analysis of comprehensive birth data shows unusually high boy-birth percentages after 1980 among later children (most notably third and fourth children) born to Chinese and Asian Indian mothers. Based upon linked data from California, Asian Indian mothers are found to be significantly more likely to have a terminated pregnancy and to give birth to a boy when they have previously only given birth to girls. The observed boy-birth pe...
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作者：Jacob, Brian A.; Lefgren, Lars
作者单位：University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Brigham Young University
摘要：Low-achieving students in many school districts are retained in a grade to allow them to gain the academic or social skills that teachers believe are necessary to succeed academically. In this paper, we use plausibly exogenous variation in retention generated by a test-based promotion policy to assess the causal impact of grade retention on high school completion. We find that retention among younger students does not affect the likelihood of high school completion, but that retaining low-achi...
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作者：Heffetz, Ori; Shayo, Moses
作者单位：Cornell University; Hebrew University of Jerusalem
摘要：Elementary consumer theory assumes prices affect demand only because they affect the budget constraint (BC). Alternative models, and some evidence, suggest prices can affect demand through other, non-BC channels (e.g., by signaling quality). This paper uses a lab and a field experiment to disentangle BC from non-BC effects of prices on demand. In the lab, we find that although prices positively affect stated willingness to pay, non-BC price elasticities are considerably smaller than BC price e...
